Whenever I get a new camera I like to run it through IRIS to determine Read Noise levels.
OK, it may seem a bit techie (or maybe obvious) but doing the numbers is a good way of benchmarking a camera’s ISO performance, especially when your findings conclude that inbetween ISOs yeild cleaner results!
So my 1D4′s ISO preferences are 160, 320, 640 and 1250, after which point read noise seems to climb linearly, although ISO 2500 looks favourable over ISO 2000!
Being a late adopter of many things (by choice), I finally took the plunge and bought a 1D4.
It’s great to have the ergonomics of a 1 series again since I’ve being using a 7D in preference to my 1D3 since Nov 2009.
I will surely miss the 1.6x crop factor of the 7D (now sold) but at least the viewfinder of the 1D4 is brighter and more forgiving to my eyes.
Now to put it through its paces and get some first hand – real world experience of using it.
Looking back this is now my 8th Canon dSLR (3rd 1 series) in 8 years….!
With the advent of HD Video being embedded in almost very dSLR, is it really a gimmick?
Well, there definitely seems to be mixed opinions on this one.
I’ve always thought that video and stills would at some point merge, but the pace at which HD Video has enveloped dSLRs, it’s time to accept that it’s here to stay.
Can it be taken seriously?
You bet, my lad (Alex Nevill) is coming to the end of his Film Production degree at Gloucester Uni and they (like many other Unis) have embrassed the dSLR for future year 2 curriculums.
Alex in his own right has one won and been nominated for no less than a dozen awards for his work on documentaries and short films with the BFI, Cornwall Film Festival, Edinburgh Film Festival, Cinemagic File Festival, Hitter Film Festival etc, for his cinematography – using (none other than) a Canon 7D and a few secondhand Nikon primes! He’s also been working an a couple of budget british feature films with two 7Ds as primary/secondary cameras.
What’s more, even the likes of Danny Boyle with his latest blockbuster “127 hours” was filmed on Canon 5D2 and Canon 1DMkIV.
So what’s the attraction?
It’s manual focus (yes, useless for run and gun OBs) but for creative types its a revelation. A large frame sensor, shallow depth of field, affordable and quality that up until only a few years ago would equate to no less than a small mortgage for any budding DOP.
Furthermore, I’ve also read that Canon want to embrace Thunderbolt (formerly Light Peak) to help with transferring those ever growing HD video data rates.
So for all those sceptics, HD Video dSLRs are fastly becoming a serious proposition!
I’ve just finished writing up a tip on how to convert a KTM tank bag into a camera bag to house my travel photography kit using a camping mat and some duck tape!
